On. Off.

Those aren’t Rob’s thoughts moments before he hopes to get lucky. No, those have been our thoughts over the past five days as related to the trail.

At the end of last week, we had to bring Rob to the Urgent Care. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a cougar attack (though there are quite a few of those women here in California). He broke out in hives all over his chest and back. The doc said it could be an allergic reaction but, more likely, it’s something viral as it’s slowly moving down to his legs. Whatever it is, he said not to be too concerned about it but strongly recommended that we don’t start the trail until it clears up. Since his skin is at a weakened state, it will be at a high risk of infection especially in the desert.

Like my brother said, I guess he shouldn’t have done that body shot off of me while in Mexico.

We went back and forth of whether we were going to listen to the doctor or not but in the end we decided to wait it out. If something went wrong and it starts to itch or cause him pain, the middle of nowhere is not where we want to be.

I have a feeling that Aron Ralston may have had that same thought after the fact.

And then we decided to be brutally honest with ourselves. If we are already nervous about our money situation and now even more so due to this unexpected circumstance, then what will happen if and when something else unplanned comes up? Every day spent on hotel, food, transportation, etc. prior to even starting the trail takes away from what we can spend on our hike. Perhaps even more important than the money though is the delay on the start date. We are already starting late for the season and pushing it back for an unknown period of time really concerns us in being able to finish in time. With that said, we came to the tough decision to put off our PCT thru-hike until 2015.

That was a tough pill to swallow.

We spent a LOT of time prepping for this hike. To try and eat a little healthier, we dehydrated a bunch of food to send to ourselves at certain points of the trail (shout out to a Kari for our dehydrating/Vampire Diaries/wine nights). We purchased new gear to replace our stinky A.T. gear, bought a new DSLR camera, printed out 500 or so pages of maps. Hell, we even have our permits to enter Canada via footpath all ready to go. But, nevertheless, Canada will have to wait. Bummer for them. Bummer for us.

In all honesty, we are somewhat relieved. We were under so much stress those last two weeks trying to get everything around and nothing seemed to go right. Moving out of our apartment days before flying West was not the brightest idea. Lack of sleep over four days causes you to do crazy things such as misplacing ALL of our maps 2 hours before we left. Our mail drops weren’t as organized as we would have liked… also due to lack of sleep. The good thing about waiting is that we have everything ready to go. With proper storage, the food will keep. We have the gear. We have the camera. Now, we have the time to hone in on the camera skills, dehydrate even more food, and replace some of our heavier gear items that we didn’t have the time or money to before.

We’re trying to make the most of this time, too. It’s not hard to do in California. We stayed in San Diego for almost a week while keeping an eye on Rob and absolutely loved it (that applies both to staying in San Diego and me being able to keep an eye on Rob). So much so that we decided to stay out West until next year when we start the hike. Currently we are roadtripping north, checking out towns and jobs along the way. We plan to make our way to Eugene, Oregon and making a decision at that time.

During this next year, we will still keep up on the blog adding more information on the PCT and our preparation for it. We will also keep everyone updated on other adventures between now and then. Being out West positions us to experience so much wilderness that was difficult to get to before.

In darkness, there is light. It is the sheer joy that can be found in living life to the fullest every single day and being blessed with the best family and friends that reminds me of how fortunate we truly are.

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6 thoughts on “On. Off.”

Im glad to hear Robs okay and so sorry you have to postpone. Well.. I have to say I was excited we would get to spend the summer with you before WE left… But I understand the desire to stay out west. Maybe we can visit when we are out that way ourselves!? Love you both!!

I can only imagine how difficult a decision that was to make for the both of you but it all happens for a reason and it sounds like you both are seeing the positive … as usual! Miss you guys a lot already and still want to plan a visit out to see you guys toward the end of the summer. Stay safe and healthy and continue to make many memories along the way!

Sorry to here of the postponement, glad you are better, and as you have stated, there’s a lot to see out west that’s different from anyplace else. I enjoyed San Diego while I was there once I was off base. Life has many little turns along the way and you never know what is around the next corner. Be safe and enjoy all those little things that make life exciting. Love to you both. UR

Well the thing about a broken compass is….you never know what direction it will point you.AND it might just point you nowhere and exactly where you need to be all in the same moment There it goes again pointing North when you think it was South and back again…wait it was West …East?. No logic and no sense. Like the ocean and the shore who reach for one another over and over to never fully grasp each other, it doesn’t lesson the love they share, the need to feel each other. Your two are in love with hiking and although it makes no real sense it is a pure love, a true broken compass with arrows and no end to the possibilities ahead.